# Which fringe science theories will be proven true... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166 "2001-04-07T17:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/101 "2001-04-26T01:02:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by masonite \* > \*\*I was imagining a simple maze of PVC pipes, or maybe a pattern like a star (unknown to the dowser), constructed in a field, covered with 2-3 feet of compact earth. Have the dowser indicate the pattern in which the pipes are laid out, or at least a fraction of it. \*\* Randi has done that, see Flim-Flam. It took a lot of preperation. Randi tests a lot of dowsers and has said he thinks they are honest, but are fooling themselves. That being said, Randi tests them for what they claim they can do, nothing more, nothing less. If they say they can find water, fine, they can find stationary water as well flowing water. (Most dowssers claim to be able to find lots of things). If the test is not a good test, then the dowser should be the best judge of the matter. The test is arranged between Randi and the claimant, the claimant has every opportunity to balk at any time. Randi does not need to go out of his way to debunk dowsers,on one reported occassion he even used a water flowing system designed by a dowsing advocate. A single thing was changed to hide which pipe had the water and the dowser failed. I think Randi is actually a bit tired of dowsers. There was a disclaimer & suggestion aimed specifically at them on his website. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/102 "2001-04-26T02:03:52Z")
The “Morklocks”? Are they futuristic cavemen who look like Robin Williams? ---
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/103 "2001-04-26T09:38:59Z")
**Degrance** , for the record, it is _your_ statement that is false, and blatantly so. I too am willing to help investigate your claims in spite of their dubious tone. As **Spritus Mundi** suggested, find the video you are talking about, establish that this it is Randi’s modus operandi, and then we’ll see. And, once again, let me repeat that Randi is not a scientist, but he does use the scientific method and his skills as a magician to expose frauds in a methodical manner. I wish there were more like him. On the other hand, the vehemence and lack of evidence with which you attempt to discredit Randi are hardly characteristic of the fight against ignorance. Abe ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/104 "2001-04-26T10:48:48Z")
I believe that Venus will be given an Earth-like orbit…oh wait, no I don’t. **Uri Geller** : I’ve seen a “hidden camera” video of him doing his spoonbending and psychic drawing tricks for a reporter, and it showed pretty clearly how he did them. The guy’s annoying as hell, too, although it doesn’t take special powers for that. 🙂 **Predictions** : Hmmmmm…I think Jaynes’s theory of consciousness deserves more serious consideration, as does Gardner’s classification of intellegences), but as both involve a medium difficult to test in a clear way I’m not sure to what extent these can be proven in any meaningful way. I’ll go out on a limb and say that the current scientific view of the speed of light will get seriously revised. In other areas, I’ll predict that we’ll find some more new and interesting subatomic particles, we’ll learn how to grow nerve cells, we’ll send a manned mission to Mars within 50 years, and the Cubs will win the World Series. No, scratch that last one – there are some things that no one will believe. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/105 "2001-04-26T14:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > \*\*The “Morklocks”? > > Are they futuristic cavemen who look like Robin Williams? \*\* D’oh! :} ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/106 "2001-04-26T15:01:29Z")
jr8 wrote: > [@](#): > > I believe that Venus will be given an Earth-like orbit…oh wait, no I don’t. Oh my God, it’s **Alexander Abian!!** :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/107 "2001-04-26T15:25:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > > > [@](#): > > > > I believe that Venus will be given an Earth-like orbit…oh wait, no I don’t. > > Oh my God, it’s **Alexander Abian!!** :eek: \*\* I thought it was **Archimedes** (formerly Ludwig/Logwig/Lutefisk) **Plutonium**. Or am I getting my mad scientists confused? There’s just so many of them… ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/108 "2001-04-26T22:19:09Z")
**Alexander Abian** was the one with the hair-brained theory that every single problem facing us, from wars to AIDS to mass extinctions, is entirely the fault of the “murderous orbital parameters of the Earth.” He proposed that humanity should move Venus out to Earth’s orbital distance to turn it into a “born-again Earth” and to use as an experimental laboratory to tweak the orbital parameters – that way, we can figure out what the “right” orbital parameters are for the Earth and thereby, um, cure AIDS or something. (Abian also held to the theory that time and mass were interchangeable, and therefore the universe had to lose a little of its mass every instant in order for time to progress. He offered no reason why this should be so, and no predictions that this theory should make. Someone suggested that, therefore, you should be able to go back in time by adding mass, so we could send Abian back in time to the era of the Ancient Roman Empire by dropping a 16-ton weight on him. 😉 ) **Archimedes Plutonium** , and his imitator Ludwig Plutonium, had the theory that the entire universe was actually one really really big plutonium atom. His cosmological methodology to back up this assertion was, shall we say, a little lacking. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/109 "2001-04-26T23:09:43Z")
Are you sure these guys weren’t pulling our collective legs? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/110 "2001-04-27T08:39:25Z")
Thank you, **tracer** , for the helpful guide to Weird People on the Web. It’s been a few years since I last stalked the various Usenet .sci bb’s, and obviously my recollections have become muddled. Maybe I need an engram reading. 🙂 If mass–\>time conversion is required, is that why heavier people take longer to get anywhere? **jab1** : If they’re joking, they must hold some sort of collective record for “Joke Most Beaten to Death”. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/111 "2001-04-28T14:55:59Z")
Archimedes Plutonium may have been joking – and if not, he displayed enough of a tongue-in-cheek attitude from time to time to give you the impression that he at least understood how wonky his ideas sounded. Alexander Abian, though, was deadly serious. He believed in what he was saying every bit as much as Ed Wood believed he was producing a masterpiece of cinema when he filmed _Plan Nine from Outer Space_. And like Ed Wood, some of Abian’s works have received the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment, the results of which can be viewed at [this page from the Web Site Number 9 MSTings Archive](http://www.masemware.com/mst3k/cgi/misting-search2.pl?search_category=on&category=AA). ---
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/112 "2001-04-28T15:28:25Z")
1. that animals think and have awareness, feelings, goals and even fall in love 2. that there is an energy field in the body that is necessary for life and health 3. that out thinking can affect our physical health 4. that prayer can help people at a distance 5. that there is extraterrestrial intelligence 6. that there is extraterrestrial life 7. that life came to the earth on asteroids more to come… ---
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/113 "2001-04-28T18:55:07Z")
An important one is animal cognition, feeling, planning etc. They actually are pretty smart and science is just beginning to catch on. Another one is esp and related subjects. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/114 "2001-04-28T20:24:17Z")
berdollos wrote: > [@](#): > > 1. that ou[r] thinking can affect our physical health This one is already pretty close to the mainstream. Many ailments have, for decades, been classified as “psychosomatic.” It is even possible to develop a rash on your skin if you _believe_ that an insect is biting you there. Tests have to be designed to take the placebo effect into account. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/115 "2001-04-28T22:08:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by berdollos \* > **2. that there is an energy field in the body that is necessary for life and health** I don’t think so. > [@](#): > > **4. that prayer can help people at a distance** They haven’t proven that prayer helps persons in the same room! Or the person reciting the prayer, for that matter! > [@](#): > > \*\*7. that life came to the earth on asteroids \*\* Not asteroids, [comets.](http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2001/ast05apr_1.htm) And not living things, but the organic compounds necessary for abiogenesis to occur. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/116 "2001-04-28T22:42:55Z")
jab1 wrote: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by berdollos \* > > \*\*7. that life came to the earth on asteroids \*\* > > Not asteroids, [comets.](http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2001/ast05apr_1.htm) And not living things, but the organic compounds necessary for abiogenesis to occur. I think berdollos may be speculating about complete panspermia, with fully-formed bacteria hitching an interplanetary or interstellar ride on an asteroid – not merely the accretion of organic compounds from comets. (Then again, with his belief in energy fields, berdollos may be speculating about little gray men from Zeta Reticuli colonizing the ancient Earth, for all I know.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/117 "2001-04-28T22:54:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Zeta Reticuli Mmmm, very tasty with marinara and a mature valpolicella. What? Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/118 "2001-04-29T01:18:39Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. that there is an energy field in the body that is necessary for life and health This is vague enough to defy interpretation. Taken in one sense (the central nervous system) it has been part of mainstream science for decades, in anther sense (auras, kirlian photography, healing fields) I’d stake almost any amount of money against them ever being proven to be of any worth. > [@](#): > > 1. that prayer can help people at a distance Yeah sure, this is pretty likely. About as likely as you being able to cast a spell to make me make 25, and 165 lbs again. > [@](#): > > 1. that there is extraterrestrial intelligence Mainstream science has acknowledged this possibility for many years, and has spent money on the research. Maybe you meant to say that extraterrestrials not only exist, but come to this planet, scoop up yokels and anally probe them. I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one. > [@](#): > > 1. that there is extraterrestrial life Seems like you should have put this one before the previous one, since it’s an obvious prerequisite. But that aside, once again mainstream science has allowed for this possibility for years, and spends money on research. And once again this doesn’t mean ETs have been lurking in our back yard for the last 100 years. Ugly ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/119 "2001-04-29T01:50:20Z")
RJKUgly wrote: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > 1. that prayer can help people at a distance > > Yeah sure, this is pretty likely. About as likely as you being able to cast a spell to make me make 25, and 165 lbs again. Make 25 what? Cookies on one cookie sheet? (That’d have to be one big cookie sheet, or 25 very small cookies.) ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166/120 "2001-04-29T17:43:30Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Yeah sure, this is pretty likely. About as likely as you being able to cast a spell to make me make 25, and 165 lbs again. > > Make 25 what? Cookies on one cookie sheet? (That’d have to be one big cookie sheet, or 25 very small cookies.) Sorry, tragic editing accident. That should have read **“About as likely as you being able to cast a spell to make me 25, and 165 lbs again”** with the 25 referring to 25 years old, which at this point is 20 years in my past. And before anyone asks, the 165 pounds is about 60 pounds in my past. What a drag! Ugly [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fringe-science-theories-will-be-proven-true/61166.md?page=7)